TAINTED CARESS
by OllieLemur
Summary: 1806, post-Forest but pre-DIMV. AUBREY has a new friend. But will Brynn, a deadly TRISTE woman who was an up-and-coming trainer in the destroyed empire of MIDNIGHT, sell him into the flesh trade? Guest Appearances: Gabriel, Jeshickah, and others...
1. Chapter One

A/N: Aubrey, Gabriel, Daryl, Jeshickah, and other members of old Midnight and Maayhem, are Amy's, obviously, not mine. Half the time I wonder why people bother to mention this... Does someone out there think that, even if someone were to claim them other than Amy, that they'd be taken seriously? That all those super-fans would see through their façade and destroy them? Ha ha. What a thought.  
  
The language you might not recognize is ha'Dasi- a language spoken in old days of Nyeusigrube, even further back than this, and still spoken by the shm'Ahnmik, falcon shapeshifters. If you were to translate it, chances are I'm horribly wrong at what I'm trying to say, but take it on faith.  
  
Anyway, the characters you don't recognize, chances are they are my characters, though some might be Amy's. The events of this tale are post- Forests, pre-Demon. It is 1806- just after the destruction of the first Midnight; the slave trade has been brought down for the most part, and those who were involved in Jeshickah's empire are scattered.  
  
Enjoy my little ones. Enjoy.  
  
Until,  
  
Ollie  
  
  
  
"Tainted Caress"  
  
Chapter One  
  
The blood drizzled out of my mouth as I tried to speak to him. He kept close to me, whispering harsh words to keep me fighting to live. "Shut up, Barrett. She can't hear you anyway. It's no use."  
  
I wanted to speak to him, my dear friend who had helped me through so much. It was the end of our great romance and we both could feel it. Brynn had known I was less than one month in the change. She had known that she could defeat me, despite the strength of the blood that flowed through my veins. She had caught us off guard when an old enemy distracted Aubrey to Leeds, which was two days away. We had half expected her to follow him from London across the countryside, where it would have been easy to hide a fight between vampires and to bury the body of the loser.  
  
I had been lying in a near unconscious state on the only bed in our home for a day and a half before Aubrey returned from bringing death to the less worrisome foe. He tended to me swiftly and we exchanged a kiss through the blood on my lips as he read my thoughts. I told him how Brynn found me and how she vowed vengeance for the destruction of the place called Midnight and her career in the slave trade within it. The fight had lasted for hours, and I tried to remain focused, to deny her the retaliation she desired. But when the blows fell harder and my mind slowed that smallest amount below perfection, her dagger sought my flesh thrice. I bled from my neck and from my chest, and though I could feel myself healing, she did not wait for my recovery. She drew another dagger from its sheath on her belt. The glint of the moonlight on the blade shone with a copper hue though I knew the blade to be of a white gold: Brynn and those like her would only use white gold in their magic. My mind was quivering from the fear of the enchanted blade I had only heard rumor of her possessing, but my body would not hear the horror of the truth.  
  
Aubrey guessed the rest as his black eyes focused upon the dark maroon stain on my white shirt. He parted the fabric gently and his face slackened in sadness as he saw the wound above my heart.  
  
"Barrett…" he sighed as he sat up away from me. "There is nothing we can do now. The wound will never heal unless the one who caused it speaks the incantation imbedded in the blade over you."  
  
A stinging flared behind my eyes and I saw the tears mudding my vision. "I don't want to die, Aubrey. If only I had gone with you to find Teraisa's minion."  
  
"Don't speak of that now, friend." He smiled softly. If the pain weren't so unbearable when I moved, I'd have embraced him and told him how much he had meant to me those past few months since our first meeting.  
  
He must have sensed my wishes, for the next moment Aubrey's strong arms were wrapped carefully around my body and he was holding me close. I thought that I had felt his body convulse in a choked back sob, but I knew it was only foolish hoping.  
  
"I'm sorry I didn't kill her when I had the chance," I growled as I managed to bring one arm over his shoulder.  
  
Aubrey looked deep into my eyes then. His expression was one of complete earnest. I watch him, my angel of the dark. It was he who had saved me from the grind of a worker's life and from my wife's treachery. He had brought me from the world of man into the world of blood, where he had longed for us to live eternally together, traveling and wreaking havoc every step we took.  
  
A strand of hair as black as pitch settled in front of his eyes, distracting me from his gaze.  
  
"Aubrey, I--" My words were cut short by a searing pain that shot from the wound in my chest.  
  
Aubrey sat up swiftly. "Hold still," he said.  
  
"No," I grasped his arm. "I'm dying, Aubrey. Don't leave me…"  
  
He began to rise away from the bedside.  
  
"Aubrey!" I called to him, my arms outstretched. "Please!"  
  
He looked to the door, anger lit across his chiseled features, and then glanced back to me. He knelt beside me and pressed his lips to mine. My shared our last kiss, our tongues dancing together, though mine with decidedly less energy than his.  
  
He pulled back from me, saying, "I'm not going to watch you die, Barrett. Goodbye."  
  
I shut my eyes, not wanting to see as he walked away. My ears betrayed me with the sounds of his boots headed across the wooden floor of our home. The door latched and I heard the familiar sounds of Aubrey's boots rushing across the cobblestones.  
  
He was gone. He hadn't even the decency to wait for me to die, to make certain that the flies and the rats did not consume my flesh before the earth did.  
  
I clenched my teeth tightly together and arched my back as the pain rode through me once more. "Aubrey!" I shouted with all my strength. "Aubrey, I'm afraid!"  
  
"He cannot hear you, Barrett Gelder," a voice whispered from the dark recesses of the room. "He does not wish to hear you, either."  
  
She shut the window and walked to me. Brynn stood above me, smiling wide.  
  
"Devil! Sorceress!" I spat at her. "Are you not satisfied that you have to be here as my witness?"  
  
A laughter stirred within her and she flung her head back. Her red hair danced around her face like tiny fiery whips and her fangs were drawn. She brought her face close to me. "You think I come to watch you die, dear Barrett?" She giggled. "What a foolish lad you are."  
  
She drew back and held her hands above me. She spoke, her voice low and dark, "Fm'varl'nesera-hena'tasa'Brysh-ra. Que'ka'rre-tasa'Ahnleh. Nese!"  
  
A copper light shot from her hands and into my body. I convulsed as the light filled me and began to seep onto the floor. A moment later, the blinding light had filled the room.  
  
She stepped back, breathing heavily, but smiling still. "Welcome back Barrett. You are mine to teach now…" 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
..Six months earlier..  
  
My child's howls awoke me in the night as they always did. Never had I found a full night's rest while my only son was in the house. And so when the baby awoke, screaming like a banshee for his gripes and aches to subside, I'd shake my wife's shoulder and have her tend to him. After all, the thing didn't like me in the least. Neither did his mother for that matter.  
  
She grumbled and grunted, stumbling forward to the bassinet where our first born lay shrieking, tossing his tiny, chubby arms to and fro, like dead branches on a blustery winter day. On that particular night, Margery would not abide by my being in the same room as the child.  
  
"You idiot! Cahn't you see that your own flesh an' blood don' want you around? Get out off my 'ouse!" She waved her arms wildly for me to leave and I believed that I had found the source of emulation for the baby's flailing limbs. "Makin' my baby upset, will you!"  
  
I rose from the bed and headed for my overcoat and boots. I caught a glance of the clock tower through the window. It wasn't even midnight and she had kicked me out already. I sighed and pocketed a small amount of money for a meal and a room, then started down the road to the Red Crown.  
  
The blessings of the night road were the serenity, the solitude, and the very complete lack of colicky baby. Just thinking about the absence of wailing made me smile, brought a tune to my lips. I hummed as I turned around the corner and onto the Red Crown's road.  
  
Someday, I was going to get out of that apartment, away from Margery and the thing she had attached to her breasts. I'd maybe leave London, though she was the city of my own birth and baptism. What did it matter though? The glove shop hadn't been doing very well since the snow had begun to melt into the gutters. In another week or so, the frost would be off the ground and the fields would be planted. Perhaps there was work to be done on a farm. Anything would be better than the family trade of glove making.  
  
I indulged in the dark pleasures of imagining escape from the turmoil of the day, the life of a lowly workman married to a woman his age plus half. I didn't love Margery. I never had. "You'll grow to love her," were the words too often repeated by fathers out to marry their widowed, childless daughters.  
  
I had just turned eighteen when I married her, on midsummer's eve, and she had a month before celebrated her twenty-seventh. I was told she had been beautiful, in her youth, but I saw clearly that youth for my wife had ended quite early. I told myself that, despite her snarled brown hair and gap- toothed grin, I could learn to love a woman of God, whose heart was pure and just. I was greatly displeased to learn that her inside was just as much of displeasure as her outside. The Lord's house told us that we were to have children to be good followers, but I disagreed once my son was born. How any God Above could want such noises in the night was beyond me.  
  
I saw the Red Crown a few buildings away and my dampened spirit was lifted. I quit revisiting my downfall and added a quicker step to my stride.  
  
From out in the darkness, the hideous noise that disturbed my sleep nightly returned. I growled and clenched my fists, silently vowing to find the woman whose child broke my rhythm. As I began to dismiss the wail, a strange thought bit at my brain: the shriek was not that of a child. No babe had such heart and such soul in their voice, not that quality of resonance. Or of fear.  
  
Finding the courage to explore further, I abandoned my trip to the Red Crown and headed to the wrought iron gate across the way. Encaged within the gate was one of the local burial grounds and I shivered as I pulled back the door. Its hinges groaned and creaked, like the dead themselves were waking.  
  
The shriek sounded again, closer that time. It was unquestionably the cry of a woman in some danger.  
  
I ran towards the sound, searching through the headstones and monuments, many of which had been toppled or desecrated or merely worn down by time. The pale shadows had crept up behind me and it was too late for me to turn back by the time I noticed that the fearful scream had been quieted.  
  
There before me as I turned behind the largest of the monuments, sprawled across the half-melted snow, was a young woman. A prostitute, in fact. I had seen her hanging around the Red Crown on a few nights and had almost taken her offers on many occasions. She was rather pretty and I knew her to be quite young, and often adventurous. I sometimes found myself drawn to her daring nature, seeing that I had dreamt of some bold and brave life I could have led had I been born some other time and some other man.  
  
But no longer we her brown eyes sparkling as they reached for things unspeakable as the men drank long swigs of malt beer. Now her eyes were cold, lifeless, dead. Her breasts were exposed to the harsh elements and her lips were open, frozen in that scream I had been too late to free her from.  
  
"What a pity you had to find us here, young sir," a voice said from deep within the gloom. He stepped from his position leaning against a stalwart oak just beside the monument. The shadows appeared to drip down his body and back into the bleakness. He was tall, this strange gentleman, with an accent I could not distinguish but that was not that of a local Englishman. His hair was as dark as the shadows he had sprung from and I thought that his eyes were as well. He wore black breeches with boots of the same color, which glistened as if newly polished. The stranger's shirt, on the other hand, was a deep crimson and made of a much softer material than I had ever owned for myself. And on his hands were a pair of gloves I remembered making on special order.  
  
Whoever he was, he was old money. He also was a murdered. 


	3. Chapter Three

A/N- Hello all of you, especially my dear old friend who has returned to read more of my vampire writing. Just thought I'd take a moment and give a bit of an explanation as to the reasoning behind this piece. Well, Amy and I were discussing something and I began to note how I seemed to have more bisexual and homosexual vampires than straight. Her witty retort was something along the lines of "If you're going to live forever, why restrict yourself?"  
  
I got to thinking about that. How very true it was. And then it dawned on me; an idea for a fanfic/crossover. I had been meaning to work on one for a while but hadn't found a suitable topic as I didn't know how I wanted to deal with Amy's characters (they're so personal, one's characters, extensions of the self, that I wanted to be sure that I would have something interesting to deal with.) I started to think, Who was the one character that had been portrayed as completely heterosexual? Well that was obvious- the favorite among many, Aubrey. And I thought "How amusing it might be to see Aubrey in a loving relationship with a man!" And ta-da! Here it is.  
  
And yes, it IS a crossover. I have already inserted some of my vampire stories' characters in and shall be having a few old favorites making appearances, for old times sake.  
  
So, enjoy.  
  
Until!  
  
Ollie  
  
  
  
Chapter Three  
  
The first thoughts that came to my mind was that he might have been a tool of Satan himself, but I had seen him once before during in daylight. From all that I could remember from my Sunday rests at church, no creature of hell could withstand the light of God's day. No, the evil of the man who stood before me was something far more sinister than the supernatural; his was an evil from deep in the hearts of man.  
  
He looked down to the girl, smiling softly at her. "I had hoped that she wouldn't have scream so much. It's the screaming that really makes women awful."  
  
I scoffed and glared. "I'd have to disagree, sir. Children are by far worse. Infants are of a particular breed of exasperation."  
  
He gave a short laugh and then his eyes went narrow. He stepped towards me, saying, "You may be right, but I have never had the privilege of feeding from one so small. What would be the point?"  
  
His right hand began to rise from its still position at his side, but I refused to move out of his reach. I wasn't going to be intimidated by a man who wore gloves made by a commoner. As I looked to the hand that was nearing my throat, I saw the blood stain very faintly upon the fabric over his palm and a silent anger crept through my skull.  
  
Such a waste of perfectly good gloves. He'd have to throw them away after that little mistake.  
  
I stared intently upon his eyes, glaring all the while at the one who would destroy my work so carelessly and without a thought as to my feelings. In those moments where I would not yield to the fright I knew I should have been feeling, I saw his expression of intended double murder melt away to reveal something of a question mark drooped over his handsome face.  
  
He pursed his lips together thinly. "Why do you not cower in terror? You obviously lack the knowledge of who stands before you."  
  
I snickered. "The one who stands before me knows no proper way to treat handmade gloves." I then added as the dead prostitute was caught in the corner of me eye, "Or a lady for that matter."  
  
He sniggered. "I only treat the lady with the amount of respect that she deserves. This one, this disease-spreading whore, was lucky to receive the gift of death from me to-night. I could have dealt her far worse, good sir."  
  
I took a step back from the woman and took a full look at her. At the crook of her neck, I saw a thin trail of already-drying blood that ran down her the flat of her chest and pooled over the top of one exposed breast. She bore two marks, the insignia of her murderous death. I rolled my eyes back to the murderer, the vampire who walked in daylight.  
  
"So it is all a lie." I whispered.  
  
"What's a lie?" the vampire asked, seemingly genuinely.  
  
I let out a slow, deep breath. "The word of the Lord. They tell us that no creature of Satan can walk the daylight, which is why the night is so perilous for it is their time to roam free in the world and feast upon the evils around them."  
  
I braced myself against the monument beside me. How could it be? Was there even a God then if these things were allowed to be free during the hours that man was working in innocence? Where had the thing come from, then? Why was he there, tormenting me?  
  
He laughed full out. "I know of no Satan that controls my movements. It seems you've been completely deceived into believing in something that might not exist." He gave another, shorter, burst of laughter.  
  
"Ah," I said, taking back the step I had given between us, "So you think this is all just some joke, do you? How would like it if one day some thing came along and destroyed your world? Shattered your illusions on life?"  
  
The vampire lunged at me, his hands grasping firmly around my neck. We fell to the cold ground, his fingers digging pressing hard against my veins. His eyes were wild and savage. His fangs were exposed like twin daggers unsheathed from some dark and secret place. He growled low, but with calmness, "You don't know anything about having your world destroyed. You haven't witnessed the end of the things you held dear and had hope in. So don't whine to me of broken fantasies."  
  
I narrowed my eyes further and gathered my strength to me. With one mighty shove, I managed to push the vampire from me just enough to roll out from under him. I stood as he did the same. "Are you going to stand there debating theology all night or are you going to fight? I've seen what you've done. I will go to authorities if I leave here, I promise you that."  
  
The vampire grinned.  
  
In one foul moment, he drew forth a knife and sliced at my shoulder with it. My hand shot to the wound and I held my jaw closed as I bit back the scream of agony the blade had caused. The blood was warm between my fingers and it ran through the cloth as easily as water through sand. I took a deep breath, composing myself.  
  
He spoke, "If you go to the jailer tomorrow, I can promise you that that scratch is just the beginnings of what I'll do to you." 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four  
  
The vampire turned on his heel, his dark hair swaying with his motions.  
  
I shouted a cry of battle and ran at him, my fists raised high.  
  
He turned back before I had the chance to notice and swiftly blocked the punches I threw down. After the second attempt, I tried for his gut, but was denied as his right hand swung down from the last block and pushed my hand away. I wound up with my back to him.  
  
I felt the knee in my spine and heard a solid crunch noise that made my head begin to pound. Ignoring the pain, I spun back to him, whipping both arms into his side. To my amazement, they connected and a guttural grunt was forced from his lips.  
  
Holding his minimally aching side, the vampire glared up at me from between strands of pitch-black hair. "Unwise," he uttered.  
  
Both hands flew at me, hitting me in the chest and knocking me backwards. I braced myself on the headstone I had landed against. As he ran towards me, I managed to kick off from the stone and into the vampire's thighs. His legs gave from beneath him, but one hand was quicker than my own eyes. One moment he had been free falling to the ground, hopefully to smash that pretty face of his against the stone step, and the next his right hand had caught the ground and pushed him up to his feet once more.  
  
The vampire then did the most peculiar thing, and one of the last things I'd have expected of him in that moment. He grinned and laughed. He even had the audacity to clap at me a few times.  
  
"You know, I don't particularly mind if you go tell your authorities. Just try to make sense of this scene. Here you are, alone, at night, your wife at home with your screaming child. You head for the Red Crown, the very place this young whore turns her tricks at. But, no, you claim you've heard her shouts, and you find her here, in this graveyard. Already dead? They might not believe that. And what's this about a mysterious man who you say is a vampire?" He grinned wider. "It doesn't look very good for you."  
  
I stared in wide-eyed shock. "How do you know these things, about my wife, about myself?"  
  
His expression blanked. "You're so easy to read, Barrett."  
  
I let out a breath of surprise.  
  
"I like you, Barrett. And so I don't think I will kill you just now. You may come in handy yet."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, my voice low and hiding the quiver in it.  
  
He stepped down the stairs, watching me all the while with that grin upon his face. He stood by the prostitute and, with certain slowness, removed his gloves. They fluttered down and landed upon the dead girl, giving her some modesty before a bobby was to discover her.  
  
"I will see you again, sir glove maker." He nodded sharply and then caught the shadows to him once more.  
  
I ran to where he once stood, searching for any sign of him but there was none. He had vanished into mid-air it seemed.  
  
A lump caught in my throat. What was I to do with the body? He had left it for me to handle, no doubt. It was probably his sick little way of turning the tables.  
  
I sighed. There was nothing left for me to do than go find someone walking the beat. If they wanted to try and pin it on me after I told them the truth, I would just have to live with it.  
  
At least locked away I'd be safe from the horrors that lurked, day or night, in the world. 


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five  
  
  
  
I sat inside my unfurnished cell. Waiting. Waiting.  
  
Margery had visited me the day before, condemning me, telling the judge that I had many a night threatened to raise my fists over her with intents of murder. But she knew as well as I that I would never touch her in such a way. On the contrary, it had been an occurrence several times that she had beat me over silly things like not selling enough gloves during the summer or for forgetting to grab her a head of lettuce from the market as it closed up.  
  
*Let her say what she wishes,* I reasoned. *It might speed up my trial and have death brought more swiftly to me.*  
  
I heard the jangle of the guard's keys slapping against one another as he walked down the short hall to my barred door. He stared in at me, smiling a bit. The key met its home and turned, unlocking my only means of safety.  
  
"All right, young Barrett, you're free to go," he said, showing me the way out.  
  
"Free?" I exclaimed. "But, how? I thought that I had to go to trial?"  
  
My head began to ache. Why were they letting me out? I had to stay there! Didn't they know the thing that was waiting out there to find me, to destroy me?  
  
"Well, it seems that they've caught the murderer. A young chap brought the drunkard in this morning. Said he found him rambling away about the Red Crown and how he had slit that pretty young thing's throat out in the hallowed ground."  
  
He led me to the entrance where a man stood with his back to us, watching out the window.  
  
"Ah!" the guard said with a smile, "There he is now. I'd thank him if I were you."  
  
The man turned around and I felt my knees go weak and threaten to pull out from under me. The vampire had tracked me down. I could only begin to wonder how he had gotten someone to admit to killing the prostitute. He possibly supplied the liquor himself.  
  
The vampire grinned. "Thank you, my good sir," he said to the guard. "I shall take him home now. He must be tired from the long nights of worrying."  
  
The guard nodded in agreement and unlocked the shackles upon my legs and hands.  
  
"Now stay out of trouble, Barrett," he warned.  
  
Unable to speak, I merely nodded and turned back to the vampire. He was my doom. He had come for me to end it. Or to use me in some fiendish plot of his own.  
  
The vampire hooked his arm in mine and he whispered into my ear, "Yes, you really should stay out of trouble. It makes for some bad company."  
  
A carriage was waiting outside for us. The driver must have been under the vampire's influence for I caught a hint of demented delight in his eyes at seeing us approach. I climbed into the carriage, blindly following the vampire's unspoken orders. I was damn near ready to slit my own throat if he was to so much as motion to a dagger.  
  
I rubbed my shoulder, remembering the wound he had caused me. If he hadn't found someone to admit to his crime, that scratch could have been enough to convict me. The judge would have seen it as signs of struggle or of the murder weapon.  
  
We sat in silence as the driver snapped his whip and the horses took off down the cobblestone rode at a steady trot. My eyes didn't miss a move the vampire made.  
  
After quite a while of staying that way, he cleared his throat. "Well, you're less talkative today. The inside of a jail cell change your attitude much?"  
  
"It didn't do much for my social life, I can tell you that. I hope you've chosen somewhere nice to kill to me."  
  
The vampire grinned even wider. "Is that what you think? You think I'm taking you to your death? If you consider that adulterous woman you call a wife to be a form of slow, painful torture that might lead to your suicide, then yes, I am taking you to your death."  
  
"Adulterous?" I groaned, "Don't tell me that you've been reading her mind too?"  
  
"You couldn't pay me to delve into that creature's mind. I've merely been watching her since your confinement. She left early on Sunday morning, when I assume you'd be in Church escaping her, and heads to her lover. He's a banker who promises to make her wealthy. But this is in return for her leaving you and finding someone to kill her father. That way her husband, who she would hope by that time is the banker, will inherit quite a hefty sum of money."  
  
"No inheritance was ever mentioned to me."  
  
"Of course it wasn't." He let his eyes wander to the window, where he watched the urchins play in the mud of the side streets while tormenting alley cats with fish bones. "Her father's too old to remember, and she's been too crafty to let you catch wind of it."  
  
I sighed. "Please, demon, don't take me back there if there's any mercy in you."  
  
The eyes, which I could plainly see were as black as his heart, whipped back to mine. "Don't for a moment think that there is any mercy in my kind. And my name is Aubrey. Don't speak it aloud unless to me."  
  
I shook my head, unimpressed by his words. What did I care of his kind? And why would I ever want to call him by his real name? As far as I was concerned, he was just delaying my death by toying with me, removing the veil that had for so long misted my vision of the world.  
  
I also hadn't truly been impressed by his knowledge of my wife's loose ways. I had suspected as much for all of our brief marriage. I sometimes liked to think that when she went to market for five hours the day after our wedding that she had gone to her unnamed sweetheart.  
  
Who knows, I still could have been right if what Aubrey told me had been true for quite some time beforehand.  
  
"Aubrey," I asked, leaning forward and folding my hands together, "Why are you telling me all of this? Is there some motive behind your babbling or do you really think that I give a rat's ass about the state of wretchedness my life has found its way into?"  
  
Aubrey shrugged. "I don't care either way. It's amusing to see how mortals collapse when told the bitter truth."  
  
I smiled softly. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I don't plan on collapsing this time."  
  
Aubrey leaned forward to meet me, his face mere inches from mine. "You will, Barrett. I give my word on it."  
  
He grinned, the fangs showing from the corners of his lips. 


	6. Chapter Six

Here's an update for you readers out there, all two of you. ::grins:: Hope you're enjoying thus far.  
  
Until!  
  
Ollie  
  
  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Aubrey released me to my home, but warned me that I was in for a nasty surprise.  
  
I guessed what it might have been, and was both pleased and angered when I found my suspicions confirmed.  
  
Margery screamed with fright as I entered the bedroom. She tossed one of our cotton sheets over her body to cover her nakedness from me. Though she obviously had no qualm in exposing even her most maidenly areas to the man lying beside her. I knew they had yet to exchange show their affection by their shocked expressions and his passion for her still noticeably swollen.  
  
The shriek of my wife continued and the man stood up, pulling another sheet around his lower half. He kept his hand forward, and walked along the edge of the wall. "Please, I meant nothing by it!" came his ridiculous appeals.  
  
Margery, coming out of the shock of seeing me home when she thought me condemned, stood on the other side of our bed. "Barrett! How dare you!"  
  
I laughed scornfully and stalked towards her. "How dare I? I who have done nothing but be a good husband to you? I have fed and clothed you! I have kept this house over our heads and our child's!"  
  
I paused in my rage and stole a look to the man slinking pitifully against the wall towards the doorway, which was free to him once I was over to my wife's side. I watched him, thinking about the baby that kept me awake so many nights.  
  
"Maybe I have been kept awake for too long with another man's worry, hmm, Margery?"  
  
She scoffed. "Leave here at once you murderer! I don't know how you escaped that prison, you wicked thing, but as soon as Ellis can, he's going to run to the nearest official and have you put back where you belong!"  
  
Ellis, the banker and her lover I presumed, whimpered and slid to the floor. "He's a murderer? Margery, you never said anything about that!"  
  
I snapped my head to Ellis. "Silence!" I growled.  
  
Ellis hid his face from me in my sheet.  
  
"Margery." I lowered my voice and brought the distance between us down. She stared at me, her face wrenched in anger, horror, and fear. I raised my hand to her face. I still couldn't see how Ellis could bring himself to love such a woman as her. When the next rich man walked into her life, did he think that she would remain with him? Did he think that she wouldn't plot his fate?  
  
For a moment, I saw her defenses quivering and shattering, but it was only a moment. In the next, she was fuming and backing further into the wall as I came nearer.  
  
"Margery," I said her name again and leaned close to her ear. She tried to push me back, but I caught hold of her wrists. I whispered to her, "Leave. I never want to see your hideous face again. Take your bastard child and go live with your sniveling lover. But do not disturb my life again. If you do, I feel that the church has some way of dealing with adulterous women like yourself."  
  
She gasped, staring wide-eyed. "You wouldn't dare! If you did, they'd bring you back in for killing your whore!"  
  
"Margery." I hissed, wrapping my hands tighter around her wrists, "I am no murderer. I was set free when a young man dragged in the real murderer. So don't try to play games."  
  
Her eyes narrowed and she went to speak when the harsh, piercing wails of her child interrupted our fight.  
  
I narrowed my eyes back at her and snarled, "Get him."  
  
Margery wrapped the sheet tightly around herself and pushed past me, her shoulder knocking into my arm on purpose as she went by.  
  
As she went to the child, I focused my attention on Ellis. He still was not looking at me, and so walked a few steps towards him. I towered over him, staring down at him as he wallowed in shame.  
  
I sighed. "Ellis, get out of my house." I tossed his shirt and pants from the chair they had so carelessly been strewn upon as he and my wife had found themselves rapt in the throws of love.  
  
He clutched the clothing closely to his body and stood, pulling up the pants over his legs.  
  
"Now get going." I ordered.  
  
He nodded and watched over my shoulder, as the screams of the child grew stronger.  
  
I turned to the hollering and saw Margery, one hand raised high with a knife and the other clutching the child close to her bosom. I was startled and stumbled backwards out of her range.  
  
Her hand and the knife slashed forwards, just missing my arm.  
  
Ellis took his moment and grabbed around my chest, squeezing me tightly. He grunted, struggling with all of his strength to prevent my writhing from giving me release.  
  
Margery placed the baby on the bed and then turned back to me, still a few feet away. "I cannot let you leave, Barrett. You see, in the eyes of the Lord Almighty, with you still alive, we are still bound to one another."  
  
Ellis chuckled and I struggled further, managing to kick him in the shin a bit.  
  
"Hold him still!" She howled and raised the knife back again.  
  
Her lover tightened his grip and raised me off of the ground. My legs kicked below me, connecting with his legs as much as possible.  
  
Margery's eyes went wild as she brought the knife down. I felt it burn deep within my flesh, searing and intense.  
  
I fell to the floor, released from Ellis' hold. I heard her fall as well, and Ellis gave a startled yelp of surprise. Through the haze in my head, I could see Margery, lying on the floor with a man bent over her. The sheet had come undone and was lying on the ground beside her. Ellis was unconscious in the corner, crumpled like a ball of paper.  
  
Aubrey looked up to me from the crook of my treacherous wife's neck. He smiled wickedly with her blood smeared upon his lips, and went back to feasting. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven  
  
"You killed her!" I shouted at Aubrey as I crashed through the trees after him.  
  
"Nonsense," he replied. "I only put her out of her misery."  
  
"What about Ellis? Was that pity too?"  
  
"Naturally." He kept striding headlong deeper into the woods.  
  
I was beginning to feel the rise of fear in my throat but followed despite, half-senseless and yet keenly aware of everything around me. "You killed the baby too!"  
  
"Now that was just our of sheer fascinated wonder. But you might also want to label it pity. The thing was going to die in a few months anyway if it wasn't taken to a doctor soon. Or if we left it there." Aubrey turned to look at me, grinning.  
  
I shouted in exasperation. "And just what do you expect me to do with the bodies?"  
  
"Bury them. You mean to tell me you couldn't come up with that idea on your own?" He turned back to his walk. "Really, Barrett, I expected more of you than this. It's just a silly woman and her lusty boyfriend."  
  
"That woman is my wife." I then correct, "Was my wife."  
  
He laughed. "Not for long she wasn't. She did try to kill you, if you recall."  
  
"And I was just in prison for your murder, if *you* recall. I don't think that the justice is going to believe me when I say a vampire killed my wife, the banker, and what is perceived to be my child, especially when I have just been released and told to stay out of trouble!" My head was pounding. Was there no end to it? I longed for just a good night's rest, where there was no mention of vampires and murders and adultery.  
  
Aubrey sat down on a large boulder, curling his knees up close to his chest. He stared up at the leaves, the sun shining through them and dappling his face with a faint illumination. Sitting there, his recent evils nowhere in his mind, he looked so at peace. It seemed almost like he enjoyed the kill.  
  
"I don't though," he said, replying to my thoughts. "Not all the time. Sometimes. But sometimes, I kill because I have to. Because it is what needs to be done."  
  
He turned his face to me.  
  
"Some people deserve the death I give. Others deserve to live their lives, miserable because I would not end it for them."  
  
I stood by his side, watching the calmness that crept over him.  
  
"Aubrey," I sighed, "What should I do? I cannot go back into the city. I cannot go back in that house, with them lying there. Did you see their eyes? I know that Margery was accusing me of her death."  
  
Aubrey placed a hand on my shoulder and I recoiled a bit, afraid that he was about to bring the swift hand of darkness down over my own eyes. But he didn't move to my neck. He just smiled in his mysterious way and went back to gazing up at the leaves.  
  
"Don't blame yourself," he said.  
  
I sat down on the ground, ready to collapse. Margery… Margery was gone. For ever how much I hated that wench, she was all I had ever known. She was the only woman I had ever been close to. Her anger had kept me in check with reality. With her gone, where would I go? What was I to do?  
  
Aubrey laughed and leapt down off the boulder. He stood before, a hand outstretched.  
  
I quirked an eyebrow at him, confused.  
  
"Well come on!" he urged. "You're coming with me, if you're not going back to your house."  
  
"And when they find the bodies?" I asked as I grabbed his hand. "Won't they come looking for me?"  
  
Aubrey pulled his hand back, helping me up. "It won't matter, Barrett. You'll be far away by then."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" I brushed off the seat of my pants, watching him with the same bewildered expression as before.  
  
"We'll go away. Wherever I may want. Wherever you might." He draped an arm over my shoulder and started to lead me out of the forest. "I can show you things that you never could have dreamed of if you had every night for a thousands years to dream."  
  
I thought about it as he led me further away from my home; strange things were about to happen. I could sense it. My life could never be the same again. No simple glove shop, no nagging wife, no screaming children. I wondered if I would ever be allowed to step foot back into the church to take solace in the divinity of the Lord after knowing a creature like Aubrey. I had condoned his evil by not taking immediate action against it.  
  
I was traveling, one step at a time, towards my soul's damnation. 


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight  
  
Aubrey and I traveled for a month before we found some place that he would settle into for a while, though he told me that he made no promises to stay forever. Forever, he reminded me, was quite a long while for him.  
  
Paris was very different in comparison to London, though that familiar piss smell, that I decided all large cities must have, continued to linger. The buildings looked more carefully built, the parks kept slightly cleaner, and the pubs like the Red Crown were replaced by outdoor cafés where all the young philosophizing hopefuls gathered after classes each day. The graveyards gave off a fouler stench, however. It seemed as if the dying would crawl there before their time had come, just to wait. Conditions were quite poor in areas where money was as rare as an apple that wasn't rotted. And Aubrey would have no part in their misery. He wouldn't dream of living in the area he actively wanted to feast upon.  
  
Paris was perfect for my vampire companion; those who weren't rich wouldn't be missed. Death was common and disappearances likely. After all, he explained, one assumes that if their headstrong son doesn't return from market one evening, that he either was robbed and murdered or ran away to seek his fortune elsewhere. In either case, the family imagined their missing loved one in a better place than home.  
  
We were brothers, Andre and Bastion Tarragon, traveling far from home to see the world. Most people didn't bother to ask us, but we had that plan down just in case.  
  
The apartment we were renting was three rooms; a washroom, a dining room, and a bedroom. I turned the dining room into my room, since I knew Aubrey wouldn't be entertaining luncheon guests.  
  
He had a surprisingly large bank account, or maybe he just had the right connections, but soon Aubrey was filling up my small wooden chest with fine clothing, which he insisted I wear. Then he was inviting me along on his excursions through the city, to dances, and gala events, to operas where he would seduce and kill starry-eyed singers. He would make a spectacle of himself without doing anything at all and without drawing the slightest attention. But I knew what he was doing. I could see it. It was a show, of course, put on for me. He drew only the attention of those who knew what he was. And for all that I could see, I was the only one who knew the dashing young Andre to be bloodsucking Aubrey.  
  
We had been living comfortably in our tiny apartment for two weeks when the scope of Aubrey's evil struck at me, fangs sharpened and daggers held high.  
  
Standing on a bridge over the Seine, watching the water ripple as I dropped very small rocks in, Aubrey and I were discussing God. It was a topic I brought up often and one that Aubrey tried to laugh off and move on from, but he always gave me a few rounds. The conversation was coming to a close, I felt, as Aubrey gave me a ceremonious laughter to signify that he was growing tired of my pesky mortal concerns.  
  
"If you're so worried about being damned by Him, why don't you wander over to that cathedral?" He leaned on the rail, standing a few feet away, and motioned to Notre Dame, which was just over the bridge and down a cobblestone road.  
  
I grinned, my eyebrows raised. "I can't go in there. I wouldn't feel right asking some poor priest to hear my rambling on about vampires that murder babies."  
  
"Well," he said with a shrug, "It was a suggestion. And are you still sore about my killing your wife's son?"  
  
"Not really." I dropped a few more rocks in the water. "I just enjoy harassing you about it."  
  
Aubrey was swiftly at my side, his face pressed very close to my ear. I shivered as his cold breath fell on my cheek. He stared at me and clenched a hand around my wrist. "Some night, Barrett," he warned in a soft voice, "Your harassment might be the end of you."  
  
I tried shrugged his grip off, and knew that he was releasing me when I actually managed to. "And some night Aubrey, I might not care."  
  
I walked off down towards the cathedral, not wanting to go inside but very interested in getting a closer look at the statues that lined the outside. The eyes of Notre Dame, as they were sometimes referred to by the locals.  
  
"Barrett!" Aubrey beckoned, smiling and a laugh hidden in his call. "You should probably not wander too far."  
  
I muttered incoherencies under my breath. I hated how he tormented me, swinging the cord of my life before my very eyes each night, threatening to cut it, threatening to give me a release he couldn't possibly understand how much I wanted.  
  
In moments, I was too far away to hear Aubrey clearly and close enough to see the statues. Lord above, they were spectacular. Larger than life, yet very much filled with the breath of man. They watched me from above. I strained to see what it was on their expressions. What was it that called from them…  
  
I growled and turned away.  
  
The eyes… they were accusing just as Margery's eyes had been after Aubrey had taken her life.  
  
I saw him, still standing on the bridge, and turned to walk back to our apartment. The accusing eyes followed my every step. How could I possibly get away from them?  
  
Ah, the shadows of the alley, they would protect me.  
  
I started for the alley behind the cathedral, rushing past the statues, their mouths half-opened in screams to charge me. Their hands were reaching for me, fingers point at me.  
  
"No!' I shouted at them, running faster, "It wasn't my fault! I'm not to blame! Stop looking at me!"  
  
Laughter came from the shadows.  
  
I stopped dead in my tracks and watched from where the noise had come.  
  
It rose and fell.  
  
"Aubrey…" I hissed. "You know I hate it when you do this."  
  
"We know it wasn't your fault, young master, but whose was it?"  
  
It was not Aubrey's voice I heard. It wasn't even a man's voice at all. I stepped back from the shadows, my eyes darting to the end of the alley.  
  
Another voice, from behind me asked, "Where is he?"  
  
"Yes, where is the one who destroyed Midnight?" the first voice chimed.  
  
Hands with fingers like talons dug into my shoulders and I saw the face of a woman appear from in the shadows. Her movement liquid and her figure swaying, she stepped towards me. Her red hair was like molten iron, curling in ringlets around her frighteningly beautiful, pale face. She wore a black dress that clung to her curving form like spider webs draped on perfection.  
  
It was the dagger at her hip, which had a strange white glare to it, that made me most nervous and that made a cold sweat break across my brow. She meant me no help, I was quite sure. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine  
  
"So, frail thing, what has made you wander from the one who protects you?" she began in her milky smooth voice, creeping closer towards me. She removed the dagger from the loop in her belt and dragged the point across my cheek.  
  
I hissed as the flesh was parted so slightly, and tiny drops of blood formed along the thin cut.  
  
"Answer her!" the voice of the woman behind me demanded, digging her nails further into my shoulders.  
  
I fought against her, trying to shrug her off to no avail. They were powerful, perhaps powerful as Aubrey was powerful. "I don't know what you want!" I finally answered.  
  
The dagger-wielding woman clenched her teeth together, and I saw then the very faintest hint of fangs. "What we *want* is Aubrey! The one who destroyed everything I worked for, everything that meant anything to me! *That* is what we want."  
  
What? She wasn't making very much sense, but then, how often did shadow-stepping women who wandered the streets of Paris at night with only a dagger make sense?  
  
Whatever she wanted with Aubrey, I didn't know nor at the moment care.  
  
The woman sighed with anger and turned away from me. She called to her companion, "Come, Leoma. Bring him with you. I can deal with Aubrey in different ways than slicing open his little pets."  
  
I grew faint at the thought of being sliced open. A seek creeping sensation took over as I recalled that first time I had seen my murderous vampire friend, and my knees went weak.  
  
Leoma, the woman behind me, growled like a great lioness would at someone who has just stepped into her lair uninvited. She fumbled for a grip around me but I fell despite her efforts. My knees slammed against the stone and I caught myself on one of the back steps of the cathedral.  
  
Leoma raised a hand high, to strike me, saying, "Pathetic wretch!"  
  
The red-haired woman caught Leoma's wrist as she came in for the blow. She stared at the blonde for quite a while; glaring with intensity I had only seen in Aubrey when he had killed my former wife.  
  
The redhead released Leoma from her locked gaze and the hulking woman stumbled backwards into a stone railing. She turned back to me. "You're causing more problems than you're worth, Barrett Gelder."  
  
She snagged me by my hair and ripped me upwards. I felt a sudden gust of icy wind as the vampire touched me. I felt faint, but held on as long as I could.  
  
Her eyes demanded I sleep and when the cold of her touch became too unbearable, I did as she bid me. 


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten  
  
"How do you know he'll come here?" were the words I woke up to unknown hours later.  
  
The second voice, the voice of the red haired woman, said, "Trust me. Aubrey is never one to let his pets just disappear. And he'll be here- I left a little present for him back at the cathedral."  
  
"Brynn..." the first voice said sternly, "I don't want him to be storming this place, so it best not have been a map."  
  
As I opened my eyes, I could make out two figures, one Brynn, and the other sitting at a large black throne of sorts. Brynn turned away from the other one, saying, "Oh come now, Sean. You think I'm a fool? I left him nothing more than a black rose, one from the hedges of Midnight. He'll know we're after him, and he best know it's me."  
  
Sean rose from his seat and approached Brynn. He clasped his hands on her shoulders and spoke harshly into her ear. "You're nothing to Aubrey and you know that," he spat. "He has no comprehension of the countless livelihoods that were destroyed when he took Midnight down."  
  
Brynn turned out of his grip, pulling the white gold dagger from her hip. She pressed the blade to Sean's throat.  
  
"One more inch, my friend, and I can end your livelihood here and now." She was silent a moment and then when he took a step back she collapsed into a chair. "He'll know who am, Sean. He'll know my hatred like a burning ember within his very soul."  
  
The red-haired vampire turned to her friend.  
  
"I could have been great in those halls!" she exclaimed. "I only needed a few more years. I could have proven myself! I was to be a great slave trader, the greatest!"  
  
She stood and paced a bit, her hands clenched in fists of rage. She looked to a portrait of a building that hung on the wall. Narrowing my eyes to see clearer, all I could really make out was a large gate and thick rose bushes at the front of the building.  
  
Staring at the picture, I could see Brynn's anger boiling underneath her skin, ready to explode.  
  
And then it did.  
  
She screamed and flung her dagger at the other vampire. It caught him in the shoulder and pinned him to the throne.  
  
"Never question me again, Sean!" she shouted as she leaned to his face. "Never doubt my skill, or I will aim for your heart next time."  
  
She ripped the blade from his flesh and the vampire dropped to the floor. Within a moment, he stood up again, clutching the wound.  
  
He sighed and removed the white cotton shirt. To my amazement, where there should have been a dagger wound that would have killed any man, there only was a thin pearly scar.  
  
Sean curled the shirt into a ball in his fists and headed towards an exit. He called back to Brynn, "That temper of yours has got to go..."  
  
Brynn picked up a vase and made to throw it, but Sean had already left by the time she turned back to him.  
  
"Fine then! Be that way!" She threw the vase anyway and it shattered with a fine tinkering, like icicles in the wind.  
  
I had made a startled noise at the sound of the crash. I hadn't been expecting it, I suppose. But when she looked to me I knew that there was no use in pretending to still be unconscious, or whatever it was that I had been since Notre Dame.  
  
Brynn stalked towards me, a thin, malicious smile caught on her vibrantly painted lips.  
  
"So the guest of honor awakens," she said pleasantly. "And how is our dear little mortal holding up? Your accommodations quite snug, I hope?"  
  
It was then that I realized I was in chains. I hadn't moved enough before to feel the pressing weight of the metal. I tried to sit up on the bench but could not- my hands were cuffed to a six-inch chain.  
  
"Marvelous," Brynn whispered more to herself than me. "You'll stay this way until your vampire friend rears his ugly head. At which point, I will kill him for destroying everything.... And then I suppose, I will have to kill you as well. Hmm. What a pity."  
  
Brynn turned away and headed the way that Sean had. With her back turned to me, I began to struggle against the bonds. "You really think that's supposed to scare me?" I called out.  
  
She stopped dead in her tracks and spun to look at me, her eyes wild with some mischievous thought. She took slow, measured steps in my direction. Looking me over once, she gave a short laugh. "You know, Barrett, I might not kill you after all. I think that the slave trade might be a better punishment for fraternizing with criminals. Maybe Gabriel needs another manservant... That's about as good as slipping the noose over your neck, I'd think."  
  
She laughed and ran a finger down my cheek; reopening the wound she had caused me previously with the pointed tip of her dagger. She licked the blood and grinned viciously.  
  
"I'll send guards in later to beat you; to keep you awake incase your Aubrey tries to rescue you. Consider it a service. A prequel to the pain you're to experience in the slave ring."  
  
She stepped away from me and to the door. Glancing back a moment, she continued to smile. "Maybe a little teaser right now?" she asked and then nodded to give herself an answer.  
  
When she had left the room, two large men sauntered into the dark room. In the shadows, I thought that they were half man and half bird, but I knew that it could only have been my imagination.  
  
One took out a whip from his belt and cracked it in the air as the other one laughed, deep and low. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven  
  
I awoke in chains once more.  
  
As I moved to adjust, I felt my muscles cry out in protest; the guards had beaten me bloody. I could feel the dried blood on my face and had cuts and bruises all along my chest and legs, which I saw clearly through the torn bits of fabric that now covered me.  
  
I groaned, feeling a shooting pain rise through my whole back.  
  
"God damn," I cursed.  
  
"Feeling better?" came a voice from in the shadows.  
  
I jumped, more agony singing through my body. I winced, slowly sitting back on the cot and peered into the shadows where I saw a man leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest.  
  
The man stepped from the shadows, moving with grace and ease. I figured him a vampire from the way his movements were so fluid. He wore black leather pants and an opened crimson shirt; no shoes.  
  
"Brynn says that you are being brought into the slave trade. I was told to prepare your wounds and make you ready for an immediate sale."  
  
"What?" I exclaimed, suppressing the urge to leap to my feet again.  
  
The man chuckled, his black-brown hair shaking around his face. I could feel my expression drop in awe as I caught the man's eyes; they were of a pure, sparkling emerald color, as though the precious gems resting in his very head.  
  
He reached into a bucket that was by my bedside, removing a rag soaked with water. I gritted his teeth from the pain as my wounds were cleaned and dressed.  
  
When the man was finished, he unlashed me from the bed. "The Mistress will want to clothe you more properly," he explained as he untied the shackles. The dark–haired man reached into his pocket and handed a collar to me. "Here," he said, "put this on."  
  
I stared at the collar a moment and then asked, "Why?"  
  
The man froze, as though not understanding why I would question the request and answered, "Because it is wished of you."  
  
I laughed bitterly. "Because that woman wants it so?"  
  
He stared coldly, brushing his long hair away from his throat to reveal a soft red-velvet collar around his own neck, and along side it, dragged down his collarbone, a pearly scar. "She does not like it when we disobey. For your sake, I think you should put it on."  
  
I stared for a while at the large scar on the man's shoulder; it looked to have been quite painful when it was open, and so I complied with little argument, putting the black strap around my neck and locking it.  
  
The man smiled. "That was good of you to do. The Mistress will be happy that I did not have to hurt you."  
  
I scoffed, doubting that feeble, mindless creature would have laid a hand on me.  
  
"Come now," the man whispered. "We must bring you to the main hall; there are buyers there waiting for us."  
  
At those words, I wrenched my hand from the slaves. "I'm not a piece of meat to be bought and sold among vampires!" I protested.  
  
Again, the man stared with wide brilliant eyes. "Of course you are."  
  
"I'm a man!" I shouted. "I have a life, and who are they to take it away from me?"  
  
Sean chuckled, standing in the doorway. "We should be careful not to sell Aubrey's pet to just anyone," he said, walking towards the two. "I think only the most brutal trainer would be fit to break you. It is a shame that we could not find Gabriel, but then again, I don't think you're his type. He prefers exotics, like the shifters. Like Caso here."  
  
Sean placed an affectionate hand on the man who had dressed my wounds.  
  
"Have you ever met an elavie?" Sean asked, almost interested in my response. "Caso is an emerald boa, once a member of the dancers guild of the serpiente. I'd have him show you what it looks like for an elavie to shift into his animal form, but I'd be too afraid that he'd forget how to turn back. He was a brilliant dancer, well-known and well-liked, except by those who envied him. His real name is now forgotten to even me, though I hear tell that the dancers still speak of his grace and charm when performing alone on the dancer's dias. He was sold into Midnight by those who felt he made them look clumsy in comparison. I broke him for Jeshickah a very long time ago, but she did not want him. Poor thing."  
  
Caso nudged his head into Sean's side affectionately, the name one he had been branded with by this trainer; his past life nothing more than a blur inside of his head, a memory or a dream.  
  
"He's been through so much. He was Gabriel's for a time until that picky boy grew weary of Caso's dependency. He was the slave for a king once, in Egypt. But that ended when the king's reign was brought down. Now, he is with Brynn and I, soon though to be sold off, for we cannot keep many slaves around what with Mayhem's power spreading and threatening all who deal in flesh. You see how the life of a slave can be tough, of course?" Sean pet Caso's slick hair. "But it can also be most rewarding, if you obey your master or mistress correctly. They might grant you such freedoms as walks in the sunlight, or extra meals."  
  
I was growing tired of this vampire's drivel and looked away from him.  
  
It earned me a sharp backhand to my face and Sean's continued discussion. "You are handsome and strong, Barrett Gelder. I shall suggest to Brynn that whoever buys you makes you a *bleeder*," he said the last word with utter contempt. He slugged me in the jaw and I fell backwards onto the cot, my back arched over it as I half-slid off of it.  
  
Sean stormed to the door, Caso falling to the ground as his support was suddenly removed.  
  
"Bring him to the main chamber immediately, Caso," Sean ordered gruffly before finally leaving. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve  
  
I stumbled down the steps of the main chamber, which was but a dining hall in the old mansion. Brynn was entertaining her guests, smiling and laughing when it was appropriate. Sean was standing by the door, two servants sitting on the floor at his feet. When I thought a moment longer, the servants were probably slaves like Caso.  
  
And like myself, now.  
  
I was a slave? How odd a thought.  
  
Caso helped me up from the ground, brushing my bare shoulders off. I wore only my pants and the collar Caso had given me. The sensation of cool air against my exposed chest was quite odd.  
  
It also felt odd walking practically out of my own free will towards what would most likely be my ultimate demise. Vampires, everywhere I looked. Lounging on the chairs, leaning against the walls and lurking in the shadows.  
  
Their light voices pierced my thoughts; their laughter was like knives in my head.  
  
I sunk to the ground, holding my hands to my ears. My face scrunched together, the pain sinking through my whole body.  
  
Caso's hands were once more on my shoulders, heaving me upwards.  
  
"You must stand, Barrett," Caso insisted. "None here will hesitate to punish you."  
  
I struggled to my feet as the noise softened.  
  
Brynn was ushering them towards seats that were set up in front of what looked to be a short stage. There, the vampires waited, still talking amongst themselves.  
  
Caso led me to Sean, saying, "Master, we are ready."  
  
Sean nodded. "Good. Bring these two with you."  
  
The two slaves at his feet rose, hanging their heads low so that their eyes never met with Sean's. As the two women marched in front of us, I could see the scars and bruises on their backs. On the youngest looking of the two, there were freshly made wounds down her left arm.  
  
My own bruised body began to ache with the recognition of the beatings they had suffered.  
  
I felt faint. It was a silly thing to feel, but I felt it at any rate. There were vampires al lover the place, waiting to buy my like meat from a butcher. I couldn't see any of them treating me any better than a slab of meat, either.  
  
Brynn hoisted herself up onto the stage, smiling to the guests seated below her. "Welcome my esteemed friends," she began, bowing to them. "I have brought you all here tonight to bid for my remaining slaves. Midnight has been destroyed by those loyal to Mayhem, and I fear owning so many fine slaves, as you must certainly agree."  
  
She smiled and the vampires laughed softly.  
  
I fidgeted with the collar on my neck; it was beginning to itch.  
  
Caso slapped my hands away from the collar. "Don't touch it!" he hissed, though fear still lingered behind his eyes.  
  
I brought my hands back down and folded my arms across my chest.  
  
Brynn waved a hand to the side of the stage and two children stepped up to the platform. "Here," Brynn said, turning the girl around while the boy waited patiently, "We have two second generation slaves. Perfectly broken. Both are skilled in cooking, general house work, and sowing. When they are older, either would be wonderful additions to any cultured vampire's supply of bleeders, too. They are of Italian descent, from two beautiful breeders. Strong and healthy. May I start the bidding at one thousand for the pair?"  
  
A voice rang through the room, calling for one thousand five hundred.  
  
I could see that the boy was timid, very timid, but the girl still was defiant inside. She watched with her eyes straightforward and her hands on her hips, waiting for the next Master to try and break her.  
  
Finally the bidding ended with three thousand four hundred for the set, and another servant led the children off the stage to a man in the front row that had long silver hair. Beside him sat a very beautiful blonde woman who immediately began to dote upon the children, smiling at the girl with her fangs exposed. She kissed each on the forehead and said something that she meant to be reassuring.  
  
The auction continued in that way. The slave would be brought up on stage where Brynn would explain what talents they had, some were fine horse trainers and other hunters, while some were skilled in the bedroom or were useful at keeping other slaves under wraps. Then their history; who mother and father had been, if they were slaves, what health concerns were involved, and whether they were broken or not.  
  
Then the bidding, and finally the sale.  
  
Caso went up on the stage before me. I felt like I should have said something comforting to the shapeshifter, but I really didn't know him at all. Tight times do strange things to the mind.  
  
Brynn smiled seductively at Caso, draping an arm over his shoulder.  
  
"Here is one of my personal favorites. Caso is the only elavie on sale today. Once a skilled serpiente dancer, he is now the most docile of the first generation slaves here. And you must all have heard how much a treat serpiente blood can be, yes?"  
  
She paused, waiting for a reaction from the crowd.  
  
They all nodded, looking to one another with hungry eyes.  
  
"Just think!" she tossed her hands up into the air and Caso shrunk, afraid that she was poising to strike him. "He won't even put up a fight! For a slave who has felt the bed of Jeshickah, the firestone whip of the trainer Gabriel, and the kiss of Egyptian kings, I start the bidding at three thousand five hundred!"  
  
A low murmur pulled through the crowd. That much for just one slave? I could see where there disapproval was coming from.  
  
Brynn stepped forward. "Please, my honored guests. This is a rare treat. You will not find anyone like Caso for a hundred years at least. I myself bought him for an even five. Now, the bidding is opened at three thousand and five hundred."  
  
A hand went up.  
  
Three and seven hundred.  
  
Another hand.  
  
Four thousand.  
  
Another hand.  
  
Four thousand two hundred.  
  
The same hand that had first gone up.  
  
Four thousand and six hundred.  
  
A loud voice boomed from the back of the room, "Six thousand for that snake in the grass, Brynn, and you won't get another offer like that from these rabble."  
  
Brynn's smile widened and I saw Caso's eyes flash with fear before he dropped to his knees in respect.  
  
Sean turned to the black haired woman who had stormed into the room, a handsome man in tow, though he bore no collar.  
  
Sean bowed. "Jeshickah, Gabriel. We're honored you could make it." 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen  
  
Jeshickah strode up to the platform and stood before Caso. I let my eyes travel up her long legs, over her small round breasts, and finally to her face, which looked beautiful and cruel. The crowd stirred at the sight of her, some going even paler than they already were, if that was possible.  
  
The vampiress must have seen me, for instantly she was standing in front of me, bending at her waist and gripped my chin in her thin, firm fingers.  
  
"Who is this one?" she barked at Brynn.  
  
Brynn grinned wildly. "That one is a special sale, one you might fin interest in," she cooed. "We all will feel the pain of Midnight's fall for centuries to come, no doubt."  
  
Gabriel cut Brynn off, saying curtly, "Some of us more than others."  
  
She smiled thinly and continued. "Barrett here is a little collateral for the damage done."  
  
Jeshickah snarled and turned away from me, her attention once more on Caso. She spoke to Brynn, "You're a fool to think that any human can ease the pain caused by my empire's temporary downfall. Now, prepare this one for travel. I'm in quite a mood tonight. I'd like something involving spikes and wet leather."  
  
Stepping up onto the platform, Sean nodded and placed his hands on either side of Caso. "What you wish shall be done, Mistress Jeshickah."  
  
The ebony haired vampiress sauntered off the stage, her eyes catching on a few others in the crowd who immediately rose and left. She took a seat in the front row, Gabriel to her left.  
  
When all was settled, Brynn gave a nod to one of her guards and I was brought up to be displayed.  
  
"Here we have a young English glove maker. Barrett has caught the attention of a very infamous vampire, and has had the poor fortune of falling into my hands." She cast a smile at Jeshickah, who was still unconvinced. "Unbroken, never before in the trade, the bidding for the pet of Aubrey of Mayhem, a leader of the attack on Midnight, starts at eight thousand."  
  
No hands moved.  
  
But as I looked over the sea of faces, they all conveyed the same feelings; each one had been angered, and each one was contemplating whether or not I would be a worthwhile investment.  
  
A hand went up.  
  
"I'll buy him," said a man's voice.  
  
Jeshickah let out a curt laugh.  
  
"Something amusing?" the vampire asked of the woman in the front row.  
  
She stood, turning to face the one who dared bark questions at her. "You can't buy him, Daryl. You're too soft. You couldn't break a dog."  
  
Daryl, the vampire who had offered to buy me, grumbled and stood. "I can buy him if I want to, Jeshickah, and you know that! We're not in Midnight anymore. And just because some humans joined up with Mayhem, and you didn't have a handle on the situation before it occurred, *doesn't* mean you have to be a royal bitch for the next three hundred years!"  
  
Instantly, Daryl was thrown back through the rows of buyers. His body hit the wall with enough force to shake the paintings off of their hooks.  
  
Jeshickah hissed, "You can't buy him, Daryl, because I am." She turned to Brynn, a glare in her eyes. "Name your price, and I'll take him. Put him with Caso. Have them ready in a half an hour."  
  
She looked down to Gabriel, who nodded. He stood and she marched out the doors.  
  
Gabriel gave Brynn a charming smile and said, "I'm sorry we can't stay longer. Seems Daryl fancying himself a trainer has upset dear Jeshickah. Fix Barrett the way she had wanted Caso. I have a feeling she'd rather him over a serpiente right now." He sighed. "Besides, Caso and I can review his original training while Jeshickah makes a real man out of Aubrey's pet."  
  
Brynn laughed and bowed. "As you wish, Master Gabriel. I'm only sorry to hear that Ashley has escaped you. If I come across an avian, you'll be the first to know."  
  
Brynn nodded to the guards. I was grabbed by rough hands and heard their orders to obey in my mind.  
  
Gabriel chuckled at Brynn's words. "You think Ashley got away from me? My dear, none of my pets ever can break free of my hold. I know exactly where she is and what she's up to. And when it no longer amuses me to let her think I don't, then I will let her know how carefully I've been watching her."  
  
Gabriel turned away.  
  
The red-haired woman seemed thrown off by his comments. Perhaps she was only then beginning to understand her world.  
  
"Oh," Gabriel added, turning back. "I also have come across a hawk that I'm rather fond of. I've called him Adrian, though his people knew him as Steven. While he's not Ashley, her blood so close is a comfort. So, thank you for the offer, Brynn, but I can find my own avians when I need to."  
  
He smiled, thinly. I believe Brynn replied to him, but by that point, I was already being dragged through the back entranceway and towards a row of crates. In them, I saw the sold slaves who hadn't been taken into the arms of their new masters directly.  
  
Hands found my head, shoved me down, into an opened crate. I protests, struggled, but Caso's voice inside the crate threw me off for a moment and I was at last shoved in.  
  
The serpiente stared at me with his emerald eyes.  
  
I rubbed the back of my head, where the vampires had hit me to push me in the crate. "What did you say?" I asked, aggravated.  
  
"She bought you, too?" Caso repeated. I had heard him the first time, but I hadn't felt like answering right then.  
  
I nodded. "She's seems real fond of Aubrey."  
  
"Not many are. Him and a few others from Mayhem are the reason that Midnight fell. They had some sort of operation going from inside Midnight, involving some of the upper level trainers and some second generation slaves, from what I hear."  
  
I watched him as he rambled out the history of a slave trade I had never known existed before I was sold into it.  
  
"You know," I started, "For a broken slave, you sure do talk a lot. Shouldn't you be silent or something? Isn't that what a good little slave does?"  
  
Caso stared. He was silent a moment.  
  
"Sometimes," was his reply.  
  
"Sometimes?" I asked as I tried to adjust myself into a position that was somewhat comfortable, or at least not as painful as the one I was currently in.  
  
Caso, looking as though he would have been comfortable even if Jeshickah had order him to be tied into a knot, answered, "A slave may forget who they were, but what they learn stays with them. I thought I might give you a little background, so that you aren't completely unaware going into this. I've been the slave to both Mistress Jeshickah and Master Gabriel, albeit briefly. But I am forever grateful that it was only a short time. Now, both of us might become as mindless as Gabriel's pet Ashley."  
  
"Yes, who is this Ashley? Brynn and Gabriel had spoken of her."  
  
"From what I was told when in Gabriel's. tender care. she once was a princess in line to be the Tuuli Thea, the queen of the avians." He explained as he saw my confusion, "Avians are hawk shapeshifters and the sworn enemy of my people."  
  
"Then wouldn't Ashley being in the slave trade make you happy?"  
  
Caso shut his eyes. "I wish Midnight upon no one. I don't even wish it upon the Tuuli Thea herself."  
  
I nodded, understanding. If it were as bad as it seemed, and it seemed worse than any hell I could imagine, then I wasn't sure if I would wish the trade upon Margery.  
  
After a moment of thought, I decided that, yes, yes I would wish Margery into the trade.  
  
If she weren't already dead. 


End file.
